Morpheus Strip
by Austin.Imaginativ3
Summary: Set for ULC 25: Agents of Yesterday, the prompt being 'Nexus'. Just try and follow the crazy logic of the Nexus, were impossible and 'illogical' stand by the wayside. Will Tekhav manage to stay sane and save Nali, formerly his wife, and will they discover something in the Nexus, or will it consume them before it they can stop it?
1. The Prologue

\\\\\\\\\\\\\ An Island Shrine, Unknown Planet \\\\\\\\\\\\\

The Shrine was a unique and ancient structure, always looking beautiful and kept up, yet no one had ever seen the mysterious Goddess who had called it home, save the Shrine's single occupant, a servant who had dutifully watched the structure waiting for the return of their Goddess. It was said that every six years she had chosen the next maiden from the travelers to the shrine, and trained her in secret in the night.

Sivir did not believe the legends, of course, but she had hoped if she was chosen to be the next maiden, perhaps she would be able to warn the Goddess of the people of V'Rion, and the King and Queen's cruel plot. She had snuck in with the others, sent to bring the offerings of dried fish and meat, even if her people had long abandoned the beliefs, their willingness to supply the Shrine Maiden was commendable.

Already the others had left, and she alone remained. She shed her unnecessary coat and began approaching the shrine from far off. Crossing the cobblestone path, she passes the privacy screen for the prayer room, and finds herself not alone. A man, blond and obviously not of her people, she realizes she is staring as he looks toward her, before resuming his prayer. Lighting her own stick of incense, she places the stick in the appropriate place, and kneels to the shrine in her own prayer. Once done, she looks up to see the man still kneeling, and when she tries moves she sees why.

An elegant gold mask, encrusted with red jewels for eyes that shone in the island sun, and designs of swirling silver lines, reaching out from the bridge of the metal nose and surrounding each of the six eyes. Sivir realized the mysterious Shrine Maiden now stands over them, silently judging them. Quickly falling to her knees, inspired by the bowing man, she feels the woman come closer and feels pain as her sharp fingernails prick her bare shoulder. Daring to hold her breath, she feels the woman walk away and over to the man, and he too draws in a sharp breath. "Stand," she orders, "Your offerings have already been taken; why do you come to me, when your people have not returned to this shrine since twelve years prior?" The mask had muffled her voice, but still it had a commanding tone, one she and the man could not ignore.

"I am Kelrin, I am the healer of the Ex'cr, and I beseech your mistress' aid," the blonde announces, "I am seeking a rare healing ingredient held within the volcanic caverns of the V'Rion Kingdom." The woman lowers her robed arm and tilts her head towards Sivir.

"I-I come to be the next shrine maiden," she says, "I-I wish to serve, once your time has passed, my people have forsaken her, but I w-wish to speak to her." Turning up to her, she notices the masked woman look towards the man, grabbing his chin with her nails.

"You speak the truth, healer, but you also are not telling it all," she says "And you, child, in your heart I see you wish to try and trick me, but you truly wish to see the Goddess for now ill reason, I can see that as well." Walking towards the woman, she puts her hand to Sivir's forehead, and she gently feels a pulse of energy from the touch. "You, well, I believe you will do fine," she says, "But you healer, you cannot go to the other side of the island, lest the huntsmen find you and seek your death ever since your little war had started six years ago, I believe your kind wouldn't be welcomed there..." Turning to Sivir, she can almost tell the woman behind the mask is smiling.

"Yes, child, you will be the one to get what he seeks," she says, "You want to prove yourself, dear liar, then become worthy of your request and retrieve the herb, I'm sure he can inform you of the one..." Walking back into the shrine, the woman disappears. Looking to each other, they both realize she has left their next moves up to them.


	2. The Beginning

/ Outside the Nexus, Shuttlecraft Onyx, 2410 /

"Hey, Boss, I know you think you're doing the right thing here... but don't you think it's a little reckless not to go in there without back up?" Mr. Michael's voice offers from over the shuttles communications relay, "I mean, I can get Fredrickson and Jameriz over in two shakes of an Epohh's tail..."

"No, Michael's, I may be your Captain, but I also know that anymore people going in there, means another person who may not want to leave," Tekhav replies, "You may think I'm relatively crazy for going in alone, but my 'specific' mental discipline, is the most astute in retrieving as many people from the Nexus as I can... you just worry about anymore ships getting in the way of the Energy Ribbon, we don't want to lose more people after all."

"Alright sir... and good luck," Michaels says, "And sir, I'd say Live Long and Prosper, but bring 'em all back home and I won't have to." Even though Tekhav would not admit it, the ghost of a smile on his face approved of his friends words. Drawing closer to the Nexus, Tekhav braced himself as he went full throttle into the Nexus.

/ _2267, Mid-September Earth Calendar_ /

 _Delon held T'Preth in his arms, unashamed that he was about to violate one of his world's most sacred rites. 'Jolan Tru, Uhlan, did you forget something?' she asks, before finding herself in his arms, hugged graciously and tightly._

 _'I have done it, T'Preth, I have contacted the V'Shar, and they are sending out a ship to rescue us..." he says excitedly in reply, 'The Romulan's have all left, they made sure we couldn't either, but we survived and rebuild what we could, and it has all paid off!' Taking her arm, she gladly follows him out, as the roar of engines are heard above them. Once outside the structure they had called home, a little over three Federation shuttlecraft are seen descending from the sky, a Constitution-class in the sky above as well._

 _'Delon- Tekhav- you, you managed to fix your ships communicator?' T'Preth asks him in amazement, 'How did this happen, how did you manage to do it without the Romulan's hearing about a ship entering the Neutral Zone?'_

 _'I-I don't know, my love, but we can go home now, we can bring Marok to his true home, we can reveal ourselves to him, we can save the others on this planet,' Tekhav replies, 'The forgotten don't have to be left behind on this world, we can save them now, we can-' Suddenly his expression turns sad._

 _'My love?' T'Preth asks, 'What is it?' Tekhav merely looks to the woman that would be his wife, and he smiles sadly, tears in his eyes._

 _"I remember what happens next," He replies, "This was the moment when the ships came..."_

 _Leaves fell where the air was dispersed by the shuttle raft, which flew overhead and past the structure they had called home for the past four years since the occupation and colonization ended. 'Quickly, get the child and take some provisions,' Tekhav calls out gladly to his wife as she enters their house, 'They appear to be going to the mountain peaks, where the cavern systems lay; it's a vantage point the other colonists can see and achieve walking distance to within the night.' Upon reaching the room where his child would sleep, he sees his wife trying, and failing to dress the stubborn boy who cries out in glee when he sees his father. With a warm smile T'Preth joins her husband and releases the child, who quickly runs into his arms and embraces him with a smile. They walk out together, as a family, laughing as they begin to recount tales of their ancestral home._

 _'That wasn't how it happened,' he reminds himself, 'Not every tale has a happy ending after all...'_

 _Now three Scorpion fighters replace where the shuttles had been, and a T'liss Warbird where once a Constitution sat. Fire rained down upon the small wooded area, where his ship had been hidden, and Tekhav quickly went inside the structure where his wife and child were currently trying to safely grab food and water to escape with. 'They must have cracked my signal after all these years, and decided to remove any evidence of prisoners, rather than let the Federation learn of the horrors of this world,' he thought to himself, 'If we are quick to make it into the forest, perhaps we could make it to the cave system...'_

 _Upon reaching the room where his wife and son would be, he sees the familiar robe and sashes of Romulan Centurion's and sees his wife shot on the floor, their child in the arms of a Romulan female who tries to console the crying child. Upon catching the eye of Tekhav, She smiles cruelly as the hum of a transporter whisks them all away. Running to the side of his wife, Tekhav quickly kneels to check on his wife. Standing up after not feeling anything, Tekhav numbly walks outside his home and screams to the Romulan ship, now seen retreating beyond the clouds and into the space. Anger and adrenaline coursing through his veins, Tekhav emotionlessly makes his sojourn to the cavern, where he would patiently await any rescue that could still be coming._

 _It would be four days later, nearly dehydrated and deep in meditation, Tekhav of Vulcan was rescued and returned to Vulcan where he honorably left the V'Shar, officially at least, before joining Starfleet Academy's fast track program, and going on to serve under the former Captain of the Tourmaline. Then he became its Captain, and sitting at its- no, his chair, he had everything he needed. He swore vengeance, he would hunt down his son, he would find his wife's killers, and then he would-_

 _What was that on the ship's view screen? An energy ribb-_

NO!

Finding himself on the empty Pioneer-Class bridge, Tekhav is shaking for a few moments, before collecting himself. He hadn't expected it to be so vivid, he had felt moments of lucidity where his perception of reality was altered to his memories, the joy and false love the Nexus promoted, versus his true and painful memories, they had allowed him to come back into control.

"Why would you want to feel this pain, why would you want to give up your chance at happiness?" a voice says from the turbolift, a man exiting the transport, "Your such a fool, a man who felt so much pain, with a chance to have everything he ever wanted, a happy family life, to have a son who hadn't been taken, a wife who hadn't died or been displaced in time..." The gray haired man walked in front of Tekhav, looking pitifully at him. "I tried everything to get what you had, and it was taken away from me again; why would you give up what others would be envious of?" The man merely snorts, "Perhaps your Federation is just full of idiots and the ungrateful." Tekhav merely stands to face the man, while staring behind him at the form of the Nexus' energy ribbon on the view screen.

"You may think this place is an idealistic paradise, that I can have what I really desire, and it is true, that I could have everything I desire, is true," Tekhav retorts, "But I desire more than ever to retrieve my wife, from whatever self made paradise she has unwittingly made her prison." The man merely stares emotionlessly at him before grimacing.

"Very well, perhaps you could make your dream a reality... but I don't know if you could really save her from hers," the man says, "Go through the turbolift of this vessel and think of who you are trying to reach, and you will find whoever it is you seek." Tekhav is about to enter the turbolift before stopping, deciding to pause.

"Tell me, what is your name, if I may ask?" Tekhav says, "Why would you help me, if you yourself are unsatisfied because of my choice?"

"Why should I burden you with another name to worry about, another life to save?" the grey haired man says, "There's nothing out there for me anyways, all that is left in here is an unsatisfied echo of a man, one who died for his views over thirty years ago; I don't regret that, and I don't want another to regret their choices, as foolish as they may be."

"Fair enough," Tekhav replies, "I hope one day you find peace with yourself, Live Long."

As Tekhav moves on, the man lingers for a moment, stretching into an eternity before dissolving into seconds and back into has-been and never-was time. "Perhaps he is the one," a voice says, "The one who ends the shrilling ring in my head, and the pain in my being."

The view screens seems to shimmer, the Nexus fading and replaced with a white view screen. The room discolors, draining from the roof and down the floor, white spilling out from the view screen and bleaching the color, leaving black outlines like pencil sketchings of the once bridge, before even those break down into the white and never-was. In his final seconds, stretched to infinity and between the space of a second, Tolian Soran merely fades to white, leaving no trace of himself or the bridge.


	3. The Jungle God

/ _Unknown_ /

Spitting up sand as he recovered from his fall, Tekhav swears the Nexus will rue the day it decided to open a window into whenever ten feet off the ground, and send him headfirst into a pile of sand. Regaining his composure, Tekhav begins search his surroundings, before noticing a pair of ruby eyes staring at him from beyond the nearby jungle brush. Sleek and menacing, a fearful, big, felinoid stalks out of the brush, it's ruddy hide blending in among the colored plants almost seamlessly. Two tusks poking out from its lower jaws, seemed larger as the creature began to snarl, a deep and throaty growl. It was halfway toward his position, when suddenly the creature tenses and looks away. In that moment Tekhav studies the creature, and notices a shoulder joint where he believed was the necessary-

Three seconds into that thought, a spear flew straight and into the creature, pining it to the ground, as it let out a haunting cry. Suddenly six people dashed out and were upon the beast, and blue stained the black sands, muddying the two colors into an indescribable mess. One of the attackers stop, a mad look to him, and Tekhav recognizes the man's features as Ocampa, though he hadn't thought any feral colonies had time to form, though that didn't mean-

Oh, right, he was in the Nexus, just because the beast and people looked real, they could have easily been a part of someone else's 'reality', how ever much substance it had. "Tea calve, erawl tursern?" the feral man says, "Tekhav i-Raal tr'Sern, Tekhav i-Raal tr'Sern!" The man jumps excitedly and pulls Tekhav up to his feet. He ignores the blue staining his hands, and tries to properly greet his saviors with a Vulcan greeting. They attempt to mimic the welcoming gesture, and find their joints do not seem to cooperate at first, leaving the small party perplexed and joyously laughing together around Tekhav.

Suddenly he finds his arms encircled and being pulled, one by the younger looking blond man who had first called out his name, the other a black haired girl. Leaving the others behind, they coax Tekhav through the trees until his feet tire, and his breathing begins to grow harder. The imagined gravity of this place had to be higher than Vulcan, as Tekhav was physically fit and battle hardened, and they had been only running for ten or twenty minutes. As they began to approach a clearing, the vegetation lightening, and soft clay soil replaced with chiseled stone, Tekhav recognized the inroads of a civilization, not quite a town and seeming quite tribal. The giant carving of a masked woman in wood was testament to that, if anything, though something painted on the base attracted his attention.

He pulled away from his friendly captors, and quickly knelt to examine the soft, playable wooden carvings, elegantly painted and still looking fresh. The three foot base held a diorama, perhaps influenced from his intrusion into this reality, nonetheless it showed a grey background with two figures, mute in appearance besides clothing color, skin tone, and hair color. One was obviously him, as the black hair and pointed ears were testament to his Vulcan heritage. Written on the totem, where logically it would be impossible, was his name in Vulcan: Ancient, High, and it's Modern counterpart. Alongside this impossibility, was his name in Romulan, substituting his Father's name for the Clan name; which he also recognizes as what the natives had called him out as on approach.

Looking at the woman in the carving above, he appreciates the work it would have took to carve the delicate features of the mask, which eerily reminded him of an Iconian- Pausing as a wisp of memory surfaces, he senses great familiarity within his entrenched thoughts, dreams of a long sought gem and the golden mask, took long ago and forged even further in the past, memories perhaps of the wearer.

The thought of desert spirits and angels flitted through his head, sand demons from legend, once wrote as truth and perhaps still spouting a kernel within the tale of the _Gratan_ , whose origins were steeped in mysticism. Perhaps the Iconians were not as invisible in their time hiding, perhaps it was just a coincidence, or perhaps it was some lost soul who escaped destruction and was immortalized in theology, worshipped as a God through mask to these people.

Shaking his thoughts and settling them down, he realizes the village had gone silent, all eyes intently staring at him- No, not at him, but another-

A woman, dressed in robes such as depicted in the carving, colorful splashes of black, like waves on a sea of red, adorned with the hemming of the finest white at its base, with white stitching showing the fabric had been hand stitched into a seamless garb, unlike much he had ever seen out of a priesthood or temple. He would almost say it was made in the style of an earth kimono robe.

Perhaps it was his imagination, but it seemed she was almost studying him through the mask, though he could see no visible eye holes. With a wave of her hand the village dispersed in a flurry of activity, returning to their duties, as if this astonishing figure before him had not even left wherever she had come from. Motioning for him to follow, he finds himself passing a privacy screen, and entering the sacred shrine, when he realizes the woman must be a shrine maiden, and that the people respected her for communing with their goddess.

"Man of Vulcan, why do you find yourself here?" The Shrine Maiden asks from behind her mask, "Why do you come to our villages now, when lifetimes of isolation have left us ignorant, our people simple and happy?" The woman turns to him, a disapproving look unmistakable, Ben though he could see no facial expression, he felt her penetrating gaze and tone. "Do you seek communion with our Goddess?" She asks, "Do you seek the treasure of a thousand lifetimes, or the secret gift of immortality she blesses the royal family with?" She scoffs, and puts her hand over the masks mouth, in obviously fake shock.

"The prophecy foretold you would arrive, and our world would be shaken, are you perhaps some evil come to kill our ancestress?" She sycophantly taunts, "Or perhaps you are her savior, her knight in shining armor, her lover, yes, her confidant, oh-" Leaning against a pole of wood she swoons, only to immediately move upright, before ripping the mask off her face, concealed rage and anger evident on her face, as she stomps over to the man and forces the mask into his hands. "Well your damn well too late, Tekhav, you bloody well might as have off an' left her, and never come searching," the black haired Ocampan, yet clearly Romulan with her brow, shouts in his face, "She's gone and let herself go, she's let this world thrive off her memories and hopes, she's stretched herself so thin, the story and the person might as well be indistinguishable, you bloody twit!"

"Your British?" Tekhav states confused, before he recognizes the face behind the Romulan brow and Ocampa features, of one Lt. Izra Nakdi, a third generation human/Betazoid woman Nali had melded with to restore, after a nasty encounter with an Undine had nearly shredded the low level espers mind, "Izra!" Tekhav had little encounter with this woman, but he knew Nali had great faith in her work, especially as a Starfleet officer aboard a Republic ship. Hugging the woman, he began to notice familiar little details in the others he had met, some form shared memories, others through real life people he had interacted with before.

"Your about a century or two too late, luv, she doesn't listen to me much anymore, she's quite content with staying now," Izra states, "Time may be meaningless in the Nexus, but whatever salvageable part, whatever sensible part of her left, it's currently split between me and her." She says the last part with venom, irate at whatever other person held the attention of Nali in this dreamscape of a prison.

"Who?" Tekahv asks, "Who has enough pull to keep her grounded to this false reality?" She points through the shrine doors, which seem to lead down into a winding staircase.

"Follow the stairs to the bottom chamber, you can't miss it," Izra states, "You'll find her, and if you can knock some sense into her, perhaps you'll have enough pull to lure her away from that witch, you are her Imzadi, after all."

Descending the dark staircase, the path alights with flame, as torches come to life in brazen holders. Following with one hand on the stone wall, he seems to walk forever downwards, before his feet touch level ground once more. The antechamber is exquisite, something more out of some fantastical treasury,milled with gems and piles of gold and silver, goblets of glass and shining brass, encrusted with jewels and sitting among silver platters lined with luxurious foods and expensive delights, some he figures to be ancient, the others imaginary or impossible to get in modern times.

Lining the stone chamber is torches and fine embroidered tapestry and weaving a unlike any he has ever seen before. Atop twin thrones sit two women, served by a kneeling figure holding a silver platter filled with wine and grapes and cheeses. The taller of the two, exquisitely beautiful with her auburn hair, unique olive eyes, and tall and thin figure so abnormal to Vulcans of his day, while the second figure is much clearer. Lying across the lap of the taller woman, black hair falling into her face, with half lidded eyes seeming to flicker between sleep and alertness, lay Nali in the most exquisite and decorative dress of Old Vulcan, seen now only in museums, from the days before the time of Surak.

Tekhav approaches the thrones, noticing the taller woman pluck and eat a grape from the silver platter held by the kneeling servant. He moves closer to the lower steps of the throne, intent on getting directly to Nali, to wake her. As he reaches out, he locks eyes with the unfamiliar woman, who flicks her eyes away as soon as they meet, unimpressed. Suddenly Tekhav's wrist is grasped by an unnaturally strong grip, nearly bone shattering, though not impossible with the illogical makeup of the Nexus. Dropping the platter and scattering the contents, Tekhav finds himself facing a double in his likeness, no altered features, save a pair of silver straps and sporting something that could tackily be called shorts, with the Gorn Bikini models on them, it was hard to take his double seriously.

Suddenly pulling a metallic rod from the side of the throne, Tekhav was prepared to be hit, only for the blades of a Lirpa to flare to life in a burst of energy. Not quite ready for that, Tekahv quickly grabbed the nearest weapon, a worn sword that had seen better days, and prepared to take a fighting stance. "Why would you stop me?" Tekhav says, "Why do you wish to fight me?"

"It is illogical for you to be here, as I am all she really needs," his double says, "You wish to end her dream, you wish to end her pain and misery, but how logical is it to waste effort on a broken, porcelain doll?" The Tekhav double prepares a stance to counter the sword, and the two begin to circle each other. "She has had so much pain, so much sorrow over lifetimes you couldn't comprehend, of lives she has taken into her, made real here, brought to life and safe and free of pain and death," he double says, "She expends so much for us, for her children, her adoptive home, she was a goddess, she is an immortal, she will outlive you and the planets and the stars, until something comes along to end her eternity of loneliness, why not let it be this paradise?"

"I believe she would never forgive me if I didn't at least try to reach her," Tekhav says, striking down upon the lirpa, though it was easily parried, "All I have seen are puppets and echoes, she hasn't tried to speak to me yet, she hasn't been the one to tell me no, or yes, only the ones made by this d-dreamscape!" Suddenly the double of Tekhav falters in step, and Tekhav takes advantage, slicing into his opponent, who quickly begins to turn to energy and fade away. "So tell me, who in this godforsaken nightmare are you?" he says lowering his blade to the unfamiliar woman, "And why are you trying so hard to dissuade me from taking my wife out of here, before you end up killing her!"

"Death has no meaning here, Tekhav, son of Sern, and I haven't done anything to her, because you still don't understand what is going on," the mysterious woman replies, "She has felt so much pain, so much loss; it's not that she has spread herself so thin, its that I have tried too hard to bring her dreams to reality in this place, that there were things to be better left alone, to be forgotten." She begins to comb her manicured fingers through the hair of the sleeping Nali, who begins to calm down and even close her eyes. "I believed the Nexus would bring her peace, that her dreams, her desires, would easily be fulfilled," the woman says, "But not even eternity can bring a whole planet to life, her dream was just to big to fill all at once, her mind too organized to reconcile her dead loved ones being brought back, the knowledge of her own mortality allowed her to see through the guise of the Nexus, and she thought she could bring them all back, except she pushed herself to far."

Tekhav merely kneels down, sword at his side, and observes his wife's sleeping form. "She awoke my power, she awoke my memories and used the knowledge of her own mindscape to try and carve a world out of the Nexus," the Golding sighs, "My desires clashed with hers, her mindscape cluttered with the memories of an untold amount of lives, shaping her, making her, spread out to fill this corner of the Nexus carved out for her, instead overwhelming her in her entirety, leaving her like this, nearly catatonic, yet fighting to stay in control."

"It's time to stop wanting everything to be perfect, my love, you set your standards to hi, your destined to fail," he whispers in her ear, taking her from the goddesses lap, standing, "Life can't be controlled, you held yourself to the expectations of a god, yet you forgot you are still only a mortal, an immortal, but nonetheless neither an omnipotent or omniscient being; and I need you to wake up now." Fluttering her eyes open, and yawning, Nali looks to Tekhav and smiles sleepily.

"'Bout time you showed up cowboy, I was starting to think the handsome prince would never awaken sleeping beauty!" She laughs, "I think you are right, I want to go home now, no more puppets, no more impossible planets, just you and me, and some raktijino off of Andoria." Tekhav smiles.

"Of course, we'll sleep in, drink hot Klingon coffee to warm ourselves up on cold mornings, before going outside to ski the slopes, you know, I know just the spot where this bunny hill turns into an advanced course-" He starts, before she draws him in for a kiss.

"Oh, you dork, you haven't changed in a hundred years," she says, pulling away breathlessly, "We can make the honeymoon plans after we get out of here, yes?" Getting out of his arms, now that they were on the main level of the shrine, Nali stretches,before coming face to face with the woman who had become one with her in Katra. "T'Priah, Goddess, I have been grateful for your council, for your experiences, and I will always carry a piece of you with me, but it is time, I believe, for us to separate," Nali, no T'Aminu says, "I feel your yearning, I feel our separation, had already begun when we entered the Nexus, and I do not wish to tether you to my existence any longer, not when you have an place were your dreams can now come true, something I doubt any of your kind had ever seen." Smiling T'Priah merely nods, bowing to both Nali and Tekhav. Leaving them for the palace below, Tekhav and Nali leave the shrine, noticing it now is empty and devoid of any life beyond vegetation, which seems to thin as time goes on.

"Tell me, this place, it seems familiar to me, like I had seen it before in a dream..." He tells his wife, who merely chuckles in response.

"I hope you remember, Delom, this was the story I had told you when we first met, it's a place I must have built, or at least desired subconsciously, even if I couldn't have the real thing," she replies, "The story was a romanization I made up of my life experience regarding trying to colonize the two worlds, the people of V'Rion being the hunters whose livelihood was harsh yet honorable, while Ex'cr was the farmers who were plagued by untamed beasts, on their lush agriculturally planet." She sighs, as if caught up in a memory. "I had used my ship to ferry medicines and foodstuffs between the two worlds, gift offerings that would allow both communities to thrive, until successful colonization led to expansion, when one day a child snuck aboard to visit the far colony world of the brave explorers," she says, "When I found out she had fallen in love, I did my best to keep it flourishing as tensions rose, knowing a marriage would have calmed things down."

She draws in a mud puddle with a large stick, a crude diagram of e solar system she had called home. "Essentially, love triumphed hardships, the Sivir successfully retrieved the herbs, and helped her husband-to-be save his queen, which successfully helped steer the future of the two worlds, by opening new avenues into space travel, and an era of peace and space exploration," she says, "By right and favor, a Royal family was established from the descendants of the two children that united their civilization, and I watched them flourish, until the day the planets burned by a Planet Killer, and only two children remained of my beloved life's work."

Hot tears mix with mud and she scratches out the diagram with broad strokes of the stick. "I thought I could bring them back, I-I thought I could have a w-whole family again," she says, tears welling in her eyes anew, and choosing to cry on Tekhav's shoulders, "It was f-foolish to think the Nexus could give me everything I wanted at once, I had lost them, I had lost y-you and our child." Hesitating for only a second, Tekhav lowers himself and hugs her, not quite understanding her pain, but knowing a little bit more.

"Your right, I wasn't there for you, our child grew up an orphan and his descendants lost their history and their homes, but we've done our best to connect even while worlds apart," Tekhav says, "If we make it out of here, wherever, whenever we end up, how about a week at Risa?" She chuckles at him, only to straighten up as if she notices something. "What, is it that bad of a suggestion?" He asks, "I mean, I know this hidden grotto that's secluded in the daytime, and the perfect place to have a picnic." She shushes him, and stands to look around, turning in a circle.

"You haven't noticed?" She asks, "Everything has gone quite, I can't hear anything, no birds, no animals, not even the rustling of the wind through the plants..." Stopping to listen, Tekhav notices this too.

"Perhaps we should find my shuttle, it's hidden somewhere in this dreamscape, no doubt," Tekhav says, "We can use it to escape, you and I, we'll find a way out." Nodding, Nali follows him into the brush, leaving the empty clearing behind.

As they leave, the ground rumbles silently, cracks begin to form, and the trees tremble. Fading in color, the trees take on a black hue, before seeming to collapse underneath their own weight to black ash, followed by the brown mud turning into grey muck, that seems to drain down into the forming cracks. Suddenly, bubbling grey turns to white, as liquid spews from the cracks and whitewashes away any remaining color or trees, like some sickly acid destroying all it touches and leave white space. Even the color of the sky and Suns seem to falter, turning sunbeams cold and white, until even the sun and sky is a colorless void, and nothing seems to be left.


	4. The Space Between

/ _Onyx Shuttlecraft_ /

Tekhav and Nali suddenly find themselves climbing through the open door of the Shuttlecraft, instead of trudging through the fronds and trees. "Well, that might just be too convenient," Tekhav says, "Kept us from searching, but hard to tell if it's real or just a dream." Nali nods, and quickly goes to the cockpit, tapping away at the shuttles consoles.

"It seems to be drained of antimatter, looks like the engines have been going for years by what the readings are going as, but that should be impossible," Nali replies, "Then again this is the Nexus, so it's just as likely we could be crossing parallel timelines, as we are outside the normal laws of the universe in here." She quickly shuts down the engines, the thrumming having stopped in the deck plates. "No point in wasting energy we could use to survive, so let's try and find away to get out of here, yeah?" She says, "Maybe even open these blast shutters that seem to have locked over your shuttle window." Tekhav pauses and turns to Nali.

"I don't have blast shutters over my window," he responds, "I don't remember ever having anything like that in the spec-" Suddenly the ship groans, as if something was resting on top of it, buckling the metal hull. "See if you can detect anything out there, anything at all, or whatever that thing is," Tekhav says, "It could be nothing, it may be something, but I am sure as ever tired of the surprises being thrown at us." Nodding, Nali quickly moves over to sensors, reading the instruments, trying to decipher what this is.

"Well, if I am reading this right, we're on the edge of the event horizon of a black hole, dangerously teetering between being sucked in and staying out," she replies, "Which doesn't make sense..."

"Because logic dictates we were inside the Nexus, just in a jungle, and we now have ended up in a shuttle, on the outer rim of a singularity in which nothing should be able to escape," Tekhav, "You know what, I give up, I'm throwing logic out the window on this one." Stepping over to the communications relay, he begins scanning frequency waves.

"What are you doing?" Nali asks, "If you're trying to search for subspace frequencies, I doubt you'll find anything, because that may or may not be a black hole, but it sure is giving off all the regular signs of a black hole, distorted gravity, slow or speeding up time depending on how long this shuttle had been around it; heck we may have just exited the Nexus already on its path past this black hole, however many centuries or millions of years it's been."

"Logically, you are right, and we could be on the precipice of death, either from the singularity or slow starvation, but I feel like gambling today," Tekhav responds, "I know subspace and normal frequencies should be scrambled, but how do you think I just found this radio frequency?" Clicking it over to the shuttles internal speaker, a voice begins to call out.

" _Emergency, emergency, this is Lieutenant Skulé of the U.S.S. Phantom Quartz, seeking aid from any ships, anywhere_ ," the voice says over the intercom, " _We've lost cohesion in our temporal drive, and can only utilize our Tipler Cylinder a few more times before it burns out_." Nali begins to track the signal, the radio distortions oddly nonexistent around the black hole. To her surprise, it seems the signaling ship is nearby on the edge of the event horizon, not quite visible due to the eclipse the massive singularity bending the visible light and masking the ships from each other.

"We can use Impulse drive to reach them, as long as I plot a course," Nali states, "I'll begin inputting the variables, you work on finding a way to contact them and let them know we're on our way." Nodding Tekhav begins to work.

As the Onyx floats towards the _Chronos_ -class ship, Tekhav finally manages to reach the Phantom Quartz and contact Lt. Skulé. "Can you open your hangar doors lieutenant, we need to dock," Tekhav says, "We've responded to your hails, we think we can help you get out, but you need to let us in." After a few moments of silence, and hoping his message has actually reached their ship, Tekhav sighs in relief as the ship's hangar opens for them to land.

/ _Bridge_

Upon reaching the bridge, Tekhav and Nali are in awe at the technological prowess of the ship around them. "-and this is the bridge we use, 29th century styling went the way of the eighties and became 'retro', so they decided to keep it even in the 31st century," the hybrid crewman states, "Now, how about we get down to it, and tell us how we can escape this nightmare?" Tekhav is the first to speak up.

"Lieutenant, perhaps you can tell us what happened to your crew, how you ended up here?" He asks, "We have an idea of how to escape, but we need to know how you got here." Skulé begins to think about that for a moment, before a flash of pain crosses her green features. The Alien hybrid, who seemed to be a mix of Orion skin, Trill spots, and Vulcan ears, seemed to dance dizzily for a moment, before groaning.

"Not again, no, not again!" She says, pulling up the nearby screen, showing an expanded image of the black hole, "Hands brace for impact, a new wave is about to come, prepare Tipler cylinder for another cycle, update it so we don't lose our two guests." Nearby a crewman nods, and begins to input information into their console. The alien woman turns to her guests, and motions for their attention on the screen. From the center of the black hole, a pulse of steady, blinking, white light bursts out of the center of the disk, tendrils of light, impossibly reaching out against the gravity.

Suddenly debris, blobs of white detach from the tendril nearest to the ship, heading towards it. Before it gets near, the gravity seems to assert itself,dragging the white mass back into the black embrace. "Thank goodness it didn't reach us this time, that is why half of my crew, including the Captain, is missing or dead," she says, "Every time it touches our ship, it buckles the hull and rips out chunks of our ship, leaving white, amorphous blobs that seem to drain out color and degrade matter at the molecular level; it's happened to a few of the unlucky crewman, and they didn't return when we used the Tipler cylinder to restore the ship."

"How did you get here?" Nali asks softly, "We need to know that as well." Skulé looks to Nali and sighs, putting her hand to her forehead, searching her mind.

"It-it is cloudy, how we got here..." She responds, "I remember- I remember there was something about an incursion in the year 1357, some attempt to cause a second Black Death, or retrieve something left behind after the event- but the Nexus- something happened where we chased the perpetrators into the Nexus- but then we ended up here, trying to escape, eternally living and dying, and oh- oh gods, no, how long?" Suddenly she freezes, and begins to breakdown into tears and have a panic attack. As this was happening, Tekhav took note of the image of the Black Hole, and then the fact it appeared to be trying to eject whatever the white matter was, again.

"Lieutenant, I need you to prepare the Tipler Cylinder, I need you to use it if this ship gets damaged, just this last time," Tekhav I got on his knees to look her in the eyes, grabbing her hands firmly at the wrists, "I promise you- I promise after this, you and all your crew will make it out of here, but we have to survive this next incursion, we have to make it through this last attack, before we can leave in one piece." Skulé mutely nods, and shakily stands and waits, as pieces of the white matter break off, heading toward the ship's engineering section and deflector dish. Red lights flash, and the ship begins to shake, before everything turns white, and the three are all standing at the turbo lift of the bridge.

Shaking off the feeling of familiarity, cementing his thoughts, Tekhav quickly moves to the piloting controls. Nali and Skulé follow his lead, before they both panic as he begins to turn off shields and structural integrity fields, and begins disabling the warp core and impulse functions of the ship. "What are you doing?" Skulé panics, "We'll die now, if we don't activate the Tipler Cylinder! You'll kill us all!" Tekhav grabs her from behind, as she lunges towards the controls, he locks his arms under and over her shoulders, and steers her away kicking and screaming. Suddenly it seems that all gravity has left the ship, as the intense gravimetric forces of the not-black hole takes hold of their ship, now vulnerable without any shielding.

The monitor changes to show the center of the black hole, no once again pure white, spreading outwards and towards the ship. "I hope you know what you're doing _k'diwa_ , or all our souls will soon find a place of dreams in the Nexus," Nali says, "But I trust you." As they enter the white matter, their ship completely covered and consumed, there is no trace of the ships left. In that single instant light blooms outward, as the black hole collapses in on itself, leaving only a white void and one other thing inside it.

/ _Outside the Nexus_

The _Phantom Quartz_ exits the anomaly in seconds, the fierce gravimetric wave passing over the undamaged shields and quite secure hull plating, with minimal damage as the great stellar event moves on, leaving the ship stranded and alone. Coughing and getting up from the floor, Tekhav begins to stand up with delight at the fact they were all in one piece. "Well, that was a lucky guess," Tekhav states, "I'm glad I realized that you were accidentally causing damage to the Nexus."

"Lucky guess?" Skulé says, "You mean to say you didn't know whether or not we would have died?" She coughs up dust, as Nali helps the green skinned woman to her feet. "How did you figure out the Nexus was trying to get us out?" she says, "How did you know we were harming it at all?"

"You ever try and organize non-linear time?" Tekhav rebuts, "The Tipler Cylinder was trying to put a name to every chocolate in the box, except with only one piece of chocolate in a box of infinite chocolates." Both Skulé and Nali looked at him puzzled. Sighing, he tries to rethink the analogy. "It's like trying to impose your view on an event that already happened, pretty soon everything unravels until the either the event or the observer changes."

"Oh, I think I understand," Skulé says, "It's like if I were to pick up a pebble with my left hand, even though you insist it was right, I know my left hand picked up the pebble, until the Tipler Cylinder changed it so that I remember it was my right hand?" Nodding, Tekhav smirks, happy someone understood.

"Well, I'm just happy we're finally out of there, because I had enough of the Nexus for another 39 years," Nali states, "I hope you happened to save my ship, Tekhav, because I don't want to spend our month off of work doing paperwork for the Republic." She snuggles into his shoulder, and begins to breathe easier.

"A month, eh?" Tekhav says, "What happened to a week?" She playfully pushes him away, Tekhav barely chuckling at her attempt. "I think I can pull some strings, after all, I think a hundred or so years of unaccounted service is more than enough to pull off a month of shore leave," he says chuckling, before turning to Skulé, "but perhaps we can take some time to help you adjust, to help you-" Skulé holds up her hand, firmly waiting.

"I think I want to help, and I think I know how," she says turning to Nali, "Ms. Aetarra, do you think you could use a new ship, I mean, if your old one is irreparably damaged due to extradimensional energies..." Nodding at her prudence, she smiles, beginning to formulate her plan. Perhaps it would only take a week of paperwork, maybe two days with a couple of hot pots of raktajino being served to her. It was worth it for a month off at Risa, missing two days of sleep. Tekhav didn't have any objections either.


	5. The End?

/ _Inside the Nexus_

The being smiles for a moment, content that someone had removed that blasted headache that had been going on since 1357. The translucent god-like Being had called the Nexus his home since the beginning, since he awoke to find himself here. 'Titan,' he chides himself, 'I am supposed to be infallible.' Yet because of some silly cylinder he was in pain for over a thousand plus years, how ironic, as he had tried countless times to actually grasp the thing, yet each time it slipped between the cracks of his fingers like water. He had something to be happy for though, as he has found something within his domain, someone who should have been space dust and energy for millennia by now.

"Yes, yes," T'Preth says, "I know you are happy _Titan_ , but did you have to nearly kill me to bring me here?" She looks around the white void that surrounds them, endless and without form. "Could you at least have let me finish my wine in peace, before you dragged me here to this colorless void?" she sighs, "If I am to spend an eternity in silence and boredom, with you as my company, I would have loved to have some great final memories." The Being, the Titan, turns to the Vulcan God, and smiles with his nightmarish mouth and translucent, glowing eyes; an eldritch abomination, or humanoid worm, if she had ever seen one.

"Yes, color, void, dreams, I understood those pleasures once, Daughter of Misharna," the Titan replies, "But _Ourboros_ , Son of Chaos, has not had need for these pleasures before today, not with an eternity of loneliness ahead of him." T'Preth merely gives him a sideways glance, before her face grows to one of concern.

"Have- have you ever seen the outside world, seen reality from outside the Nexus?" she asks, "Have you always just viewed the dreams of the inhabitants, of the lost souls and the willing?" Ouroboros nods, opening a portal of blue into the white void.

"I remember little of the world before, only that I was reborn as the Eternal Caretaker of Dreams, and that nothing must escape the blackness, the hidden dream, the One of Three," he says, "It did, _he tried_ , but the One of Three did not succeed, his dreams once again mine to feast on, and now you are here, the pain is gone, and my concentration can be with the dreams again; _I can dream again_." With that the eyes of the Titan close, the portal expands in a blue flash, and below T'Preth's feet a stone castle is formed, one more extravagant and full of rich foods and desires than she has ever seen before, nor likely would have seen anywhere.

Suddenly turning to a new pair of footsteps, she sees a handsome man, human and whole, walk in through the double doors of fine wood, and she stands aback at who she sees before her. "Well my dear," the other Being says, "I apologize for not looking my best upon your arrival, I had to step into some new skin, as it were, but it's worth it for a fine Goddess as yourself gracing my presence." Bowing before her, he takes her hand and leads her to the dance floor. "I hope you don't mind an eternity of endless wonder, I had to make this place special for one such as you, if you were to be the Titania to my Oberon," the mysterious man says, "I would be happy if you took away my prospect of loneliness, if you would be mine?"

To say T'Preth did not say yes, would mean her dream wouldn't have come true, for who could ever truly love a Goddess, but another God? The two Beings danced away eternity, a Möbius strip of life ahead of them.


End file.
